Man convicted of 1989 murder up for parole

A man convicted of killing his girlfriend in Whitefish 25 years ago is up for parole and family members of the slain victim are speaking out.

John Gambrel Jr., 56, was sentenced in 1990 to 110 years in prison for murdering Lori Schwegel on Feb. 5, 1989, at their Iowa Avenue apartment. Former Flathead County District Judge Bart Erickson sentenced him to 100 years for deliberate homicide and 10 years for committing a crime with a dangerous weapon.

Gambrel was denied early release from the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge by the state parole board in 2006. The board decided Gambrel was “a danger to the community” and denied him parole.

Schwegel’s older sister, Luanne Sagen, and other family members will travel to Deer Lodge on Friday to ask the parole board to once again deny Gambrel’s early release. She says 25 years in prison isn’t nearly enough for the convicted killer.

“I’ll never be ready for him to be released,” Sagen told the Pilot. “We wanted him to get the death penalty or life.”

According to past reports about the murder, Whitefish police received a call at 2:27 a.m. from a neighbor who reported hearing three shots fired at the apartment and then saw Gambrel standing at his door covered with blood. But when the police arrived, Gambrel reportedly ran down the stairs and began fighting with the officers.

Investigators later concluded that after a night of bar-hopping downtown, Gambrel returned home, got into a heated argument with Schwegel and shot her five times with a .22 rifle. He then allegedly returned to the Palace Bar to establish an alibi.

When he returned to his apartment after the bars closed, investigators said, Gambrel turned the rifle on himself twice. One bullet went through his chin and hit the ceiling, and another went through his chin and exited right between his eyebrows.

Sagen remembers the night of the shooting like it was yesterday. She says she still thinks of her sister every day.

“But I can’t think about her without seeing [Gambrel,]” she said. “The hardest thing for me is every time I think of her, I see the chalk outline of her body on the floor of the apartment. I’ll never forget that.”

Schwegel was a 1980 Whitefish High School graduate who spent six years with the Air Force before returning to Whitefish. She had just gotten a new job at Grouse Mountain Lodge the day she was killed.

Sagen said she knew her sister was in an abusive relationship and that she tried to talk Schwegel into leaving Gambrel that day.

“She was trying to get away from him,” Sagen said. “That day I said I’d give her the money [to move to Alaska.] She said no because she had just gotten a job at Grouse Mountain. I wanted her to get out. I knew there was something going on.”

Gambrel reportedly had a prior history of violence. Three of Gambrel’s former girlfriends testified at his murder trial that they had been beaten, threatened or sexually assaulted by Gambrel.

He denied their claims, and his defense attorney, Don Vernay, later appealed to the Montana Supreme Court that the girlfriends’ testimony was prejudicial. The Supreme Court agreed but allowed the testimony.

Vernay argued Schwegel was killed by drug dealers who also shot Gambrel as he entered his apartment after closing down the Palace Bar.

Five days after the trial began, the jury spent 11 hours deliberating before returning the guilty verdict.

On Friday, Sagen says family members will tell the parole board how they fear for their lives knowing Gambrel is alive. To this day they keep track of when and where Gambrel is moved in the prison.

“I’m fearful for my sister and I,” Sagen said. “I’m fearful for our lives. He’s that kind of guy.”

Sagen says Gambrel has never admitted to the crime or expressed remorse to the family.

“My sister was a beautiful person,” Sagen said. “He took her from us for no reason.”

“The way he shot her point blank — he’s an animal.”